I wonder how many of the apparent many members here, that conceal carry, have actually had to use their gun in a situation where they were “reasonably in fear for his or her physical safety and they were not able to retreat” as per CCW laws.
The way I see it, if you are carrying and a perp comes up to you and puts a gun in your face, you just lost your belongings AND your CCW gun, unless you are John Wick of course. It all really doesn’t make sense to me, as I am no John Wick and don’t want to lose my gun.
The "logic" here escapes me.
In answer to your first question, yes. As a permit holding civilian I've had to draw on an assailant because I was in fear for my life. Back in the days when night deposits were done for retail and restaurants (which was certainly a bad approach, but that's a different debate) some poor slob had to bring the cash bag to the bank. That was me. The title was actually "2nd Assistant Manager" if that gives you a sense of how far up the food chain this job was. Anyhow, as I approached the bank's night drop a weapon brandishing man ran towards me sreaming "drop the bag @$$...!" I did not have the presense of mind to calculate my ability to "retreat" at a speed that exceeded his charge towards me. Nor was I comfortable that dropping the bag and running was going to save me from the in-progress assault.
I drew. I am eternally grateful that the sight of my J frame caused him to instantly turn tail and run the other way. I also thank G@& that I didn't need to fire, and didn't fire. I was not terribly well trained, and confess there was not a lot of cold logic in my head at the time. John Wick? More like stained pants. Did I get lucky? Probably. But it was a form of luck unattainable to an unarmed victim.
In sum, Grendel's note on fire extinguishers above is entirely on point.
The way I see it, unless you have the option of bringing a police officer or security professional everywhere you go like senior officials and celebrities do, training and legally permitted CCW are the best option. Defending yourself from violent criminals is not a lot different than defending yourself from a deadly virus; inaction based on misinformation won't help. Preventative action might.
Cheers
